Papua New Guinea — Chimbu Province Single Origin

Roast: Medium  |  Region: Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea  |  Altitude: 1,350m
Cup: Caramel, honey, fruit

Papua New Guinea is the origin most people have never knowingly tried, and it deserves better.

Coffee arrived here from Jamaica in the 1920s — Blue Mountain seed, brought to a country whose highlands turned out to suit it remarkably well. Most of it is still grown the way it started: by smallholders, in gardens rather than plantations, hand processed close to where it's picked.

This lot comes from small agricultural cooperatives in Chimbu Province, high in the central highlands at 1,350 metres, on volcanic loam. Bourbon and Typica — the two oldest and most respected arabica varietals there are, and the parents of most of what's grown everywhere else.

Fully washed and dried in the sun, which keeps it clean and lets the sweetness through. In the cup: caramel and honey with real fruit behind it, medium bodied and balanced.

Where our Bali and Sumatra are heavy and earthy from wet-hulling, this is the bright, clean side of the Pacific. Same part of the world, entirely different coffee.

Brew it: pour-over or drip. Standard grind. Clean enough that a paper filter suits it.

Pairs with: a morning with nothing urgent in it.